Thoughts on secure operating systems

"There is no assurance that any software development effort is free from people who have bad intent or who just write lousy software. The US government's highest security agencies have discovered spies working at the most trusted levels – does anyone realistically expect that software companies will adopt more rigorous screening than the CIA? In any case, it's not clear that it is easier to get code into Linux than it is to get code into other operating systems. In fact, because Linux code is developed on an open model and is tracked by a comprehensive source control system, it may be relatively harder to smuggle malicious code into Linux. In any case, "provenance" is a side issue, one that is easily turned into cheap fear-mongering and xenophobia"Story